Sushi and friends

It was a friend of mine’s birthday and no matter how much I thought about it I came up blank when it came to something to get for her. My imagination and creativity seems to have taken a temporary break. I know she doesn’t like cooking but loves to have friends around and hosts lovely parties. I got an inspired idea and another friend of ours and myself decided that she could host a dinner and we would give her a hand so she could host but still relax and enjoy herself.

I asked if she wanted to make sushi as a starter and that went down a storm, more friends were invited and our other friend did the maincourse.

I cooked the sushi rice beforehand and mixed the sushi seasoning to add last minute when the rice was cold. The birthday girl and myself went shopping for some tuna, prawns and scallops, I had never had scallop sushi but they looked irresistable, large and juicy and we agreed we had to get some.

To make the sushi easy I brought nori sheets to make sushi rolls. I had some bamboo mats and with a glass of wine on the side we were all ready to get started. I seared the scallops in a hot frying pan with butter until just cooked through and let them cool before slicing them.

We could easily have eaten the scallops as they were, they were just as good as they looked but we managed to keep most of it for the sushi.

I sliced an avocado and cut cucumber julienne. I cut the prawns in half and the tuna in to slices.

I gave my friends a nori sheet each and they added the rice and picked the toppings.

The first roll was tuna with avocado, cucumber and chives

The second was prawns with lots of chives and ricotta cheese. The last one was the scallops. I wasn’t sure if it would go in a sushi roll but we went for it. It was accompanied by avocado and chives.

The nori sheets were rolled and cut and the starter was ready. We all tucked in and it was a great way to get everyone involved. I absolutely loved the scallop, it was my favourite roll. The buttery scallop with the chives, the rice and the seaweed was an amazing combination.

The other friend had made a sausage caserole that we all tucked in to afterwards, mopping up the juices with baguette.

We finished the evening with cheese and everything was washed down with plenty of wine and what a great evening. Good friends, good food and lovely wine is always such a treat and my friend did have a very happy birthday!